Monday, January 24, 2011

Bak Kua/Chinese Pork Jerky

This is another must have snack for Chinese New Year. Who doesn’t like Bak Kua? Maybe if you are a health nut than you might stay away from it. For me Chinese New Year is the time to indulge into all the sinful food, cookies and other luxury snacks that we don’t eat often. Bak Kua variously translated as dried meat, grilled Chinese Pork Jerky or BBQ meat slices.

Back in Malaysia you can get this jerky all year round but strangely, most people will eat this only during CNY. Many people are willing to queue for hours during this time of the year just to get their hands on the BBQ meat from their favorite store. My family is very picky over our bak kua. We only eat the bak kua from a certain store and it has to be lean and doesn’t have the rancid porky smell.

Living here I don’t have the luxury of eating Malaysia Bak Kua. I am able to buy them in New York but they do not taste good at all. They claimed to be made by Malaysian but it just doesn’t have the taste of the one from home. I tried making this once but it didn’t turn out too well either. It was too oily (because of the fatty ground pork) and the taste was out. I didn’t like it at all. So I stay away from making this for a few years.

I tried making it again this year by tweaking the recipe and lo and behold, it turns out really good. The meat was well marinate, a great balance of sweet and savory with a hint of fruity orange. I used mostly lean meat and I made everything in the oven. No more grilling it outside in the super cold winter. You should see me when I first made this. I was standing at the grill in my heavy winter clothing. My neighbors must be thinking this woman was MAD ha ha… If you want a healthier bak kua with no chemicals and preservatives why not try to make it at home. Since this bak Kua has no preservatives, try to consume it within a few days. I don’t recommend you make too much of it at one time unless you want to give it away to family and friends. These keeps well in the fridge and just reheat it in the toaster oven before consuming.

1. Line 2 baking pan with heavy aluminum foil and set it aside.
2. Put all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Using a big spoon mix it really well. Cover with plastic wrap and let it marinate in the fridge for an hour.
3. Pre-heat the oven to 220 degree F. Spread the marinate meat thinly onto the baking sheets. Use a spatula or the back of the spoon to do this and dipping it in water occasionally. This way it will prevent the meat from sticking to the spoon or spatula.
4. Place the baking pan in the oven and let it bake slowly for 15-20 minutes. At this stage you can see juices appear, the meat will shrink and the edges dry out.
5. Remove from oven and cool it down a bit and cut it into square with pizza cutter or scissors. Turn the oven to broil.
6. Line the cut meat back on the tray. Broil the meat on both side until brown and sizzle . This will only take 5-6 minutes (you have to watch this as it turn dark pretty fast)
7. Let it cool and keep it in an air-tight container.

Note: I put a bit too much of black soy sauce that is why the bak kua look a bit dark. I already adjust the quantity of the black soy sauce in the recipe. If you like to grill this, you can do so. Just cut and grill it after step 5.

32 comments:

Homemade bak kua is such a great idea...especially for migrants who are living away from home. I'm happy to make use of this opportunity to re-create a healthier version of bak kua for my family to enjoy :D

very well done and how did you manage to cut those shapes out so evenly? yes, we cant explain why most people will buy this especially CNY when they are available all year round? I couldnt get it last year, i was late and orders had closed..imagine that! expensive too!

Like you said, CNY is a time to indulge. At other times, this is expensive to eat and during CNY, well, dun care abt the price, but just buy and EAT!!!I've never seen any one using orange in making this and it's really creative. What's the rationale behind the added orange?A sudden impulse or there's supposed to have a function? Curious

Do you know that it is impossible for me to get good Bak Kua in Indonesia? I would have to ask people to get it for me from Malaysia or Singapore. And I just got message from my cousin that no bak kua for me this year, coz the line up was crazy in Singapore. Up to 5 hours of queueing.

I so love you for sharing this with us! Will definitely try to make an effort to make it this week!

wow!! you make bak kua!! so hebat!! I just saw a blogger who make bak kua and bookmark her blog and I see your.This weekend I'm going to stop at Chinatown,must get some minced pork to make bak kua...looking at your recipe is not really hard..but wait where an I going to bbq my bak kua? my grill already in the shed..oh!! you make everything in the oven..Ok..that is better!!

Hi Gert, I have been searching for a good bak kwa receipe and I guess, I will look no further. Your bak kwa looks so good. I wonder how critical is the OJ and zest. will it drastically alter the taste if I omit these 2 items? or can I substitute these something else since my son is alergic to orange. josephine

looks very good and I like the pretty shapes you cut out. I'm so tempted to try after seeing yours and little inbox's bak kwa. I can imagine you wearing winter gear and grilling bak kwa in the cold winter, very cute :D

Zoe, yes it is difficult to get a good one from here so the best option is to make it yourself. After all we just eat this once a year :)

Angie, the previous recipe I tried too uses licorice and 5 spice powder and I hate the taste. Try this one out and let me know if you like it.

Ah Tee, you can use any type of cooking wine.

Jess, thank you.

Lena, I used pizza cutter for the square ones and cookie cutter for the rest.

Wendy, I hate the porky smell of some pork that is why I added some zest and juice to it. By the way there are some store at KL that sells fruity flavor Bak Kua but I am not sure what fruit flavor that add in there.

Jenn, yea bak kua is very expensive now. I think you should make it yourself, It is not too difficult. Yea we are crazy isn't. We do anything to get our fix of Malaysian food ha ha..

Jun, I am surprise you can't get bak kua in Indonesia. I thought this is a comman thing to eat during CNY. I guess not. Now you can make this yourself. Do let me know the outcome and if you like it or not.

Lesley, I bought some in Manhattan a couple of years ago and they taste bad. That is why I made this. You can do everything in the oven. No need to grill it on the BBQ set.

Josephine, I added OJ and zest to eliminate the porky smell. It is just my personal preference. You can just omit it.

Thank you for sharing this. Your bak kua looks great! I tried a different method I saw online recently, but yours looks better.

Thank you also for tagging this accurately as an 'Asian snack'. I saw some blogs claiming that bak kua is 'Malaysian Pork Jerky'. Just because something is eaten in Malaysia doesn't mean it is Malaysian. Culinary nationalism is so tasteless.

Hi Gert. I tried this today and am happy with the result. can't believe that I have made my own bak kwa!!! wonder if you have problem peeling the meat from the aluminum foil. mine kind of got stuck to the foil which makes the peeling off a challenge. regardsjosephine

1. What is the dimension of your baking pans used here? cos i'm trying to gauge how thick the bak kua should be?2. my oven cannot broil, so after baking at 104C for 35-40 min, what should i do? Is it done at this stage? really appreciate your advice. Kelly

Gosh, my comment went missing. LOl! Btw, have you tried making the spicy flavour bak kua? It's very popular over here these days and it's more pricey too. What about making bak kua with turkey meat? Looking forward to your turkey bak kua! Probably next year! hehe....Cheers, Kristy

Can anyone please tell me if I could substitute the Chinese cooking wine with apple cider vinegar? Pretty please? I'm a Muslim and wine is considered non-halal. I need a non-alcoholic substitute for Chinese cooking wine. Any idea?

Hi, your recipe mentioned "Line 2 baking pan with heavy aluminum foil..." and i would like to know if you bake 2 pans at one time or 1 tray at a time. My concern is that i wanted to bake 2 tray at one time so that i can save the electricity cost and also yield a large quantity of bak kwa in one go.

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About Me

I was born and raised in Malaysia and now live in Northern California, USA with my wonderful husband Carlos. I love to bake and cook. It is very relaxing and I find my creativity flowing in the kitchen. I creates this blog to record all my cooking and baking adventures and also share my tested recipes with you.
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